Alycia was enjoying her first cup of coffee that morning. It had taken a few rounds of trial and error with the kitchen staff to figure out how to brew it properly, but it had all been worth it. She still preferred mocha, but processing cocoa beans required even more effort. Even so, the energy she felt from sipping her drink was delightful.

  To call what she was drinking coffee, however, would have been a mistake. She had more or less pulled a shot of espresso and filled the rest of the glass with milk and sugar. She was only on her fifth sip when someone began knocking on her office door.

  "Who is it?" she asked, a smile in her voice.

  Greg walked in without answering. "Um, boss, the Dryad is here. Says she wants to talk."

  "That is fine," Alycia responded, honey-sweet.

  "Are you sure you want her in here?" he asked nervously.

  "Greg, if she wanted to do harm, you would not see her before the chaos started," Alycia replied with a sigh. "I know the dungeon scared you on your last delve, but you need to remember this dungeon is months old. It is mature for its age, but it is still a child. If nothing else, we need to set a good example."

  "And when it betrays us?" he asked, scratching an old scar on his chest.

  "If it does, then we will deal with it like any other dungeon," she said, iron entering her voice. "But as I told you, I was taken to its core room. I saw its Forbidden Garden. I felt its power. It is young, naive, but powerful. Trust has to run both ways."

  "And yet no one can get to the next floor," he grumbled. "We have no idea what it is hiding. That Steve is literally sitting on the door. Even invisible scouts can't get past him."

  "Did you ever consider that the second floor might not be done?" she asked.

  Greg stopped and blinked owlishly at her. "What?"

  "This dungeon is a crucible, even for its own monsters," Alycia pointed out. "I posit that the second floor is not ready. Nothing has reached a level of power sufficient to dominate the swamp. Thus, he has no mobs to populate the second floor."

  Alycia watched the gears grind in Greg's head for nearly a full minute before he slowly began to nod.

  "That—that makes almost too much sense," he admitted. "Why did that never occur to me?"

  "Probably because you have never been to a raid dungeon," Alycia mused.

  "And for good reason," he mumbled.

  "Are you going to let Serenia in, or will I need to go get her?" Alycia asked.

  "Who? What? Oh—yeah, the Dryad. I will bring her up," Greg said, suddenly sounding much more confident.

  Alycia shook her head with a grin. She managed four more sips before there was another knock, and Serenia the Dryad was allowed in. Serenia curtsied low upon entry.

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  "We meet once again, Lady De'Falgar," Serenia greeted.

  "Please just call me Alycia," she replied with a sigh. "I am far too old to stand on ceremony. We all have better things to do with our time."

  Serenia chuckled as she straightened and took a seat across from Alycia. "I have come to deliver news. The dungeon has decided to set up a training camp outside the swamp."

  "Oh?" Alycia asked, one eyebrow rising.

  "At this camp will be what Matthias calls scarred veterans," Serenia explained. "Old goblins who have survived several battles against great odds. There will also be a troll—a lazy, overfed one. It will sit and act as a training dummy for recruits to wail on."

  "And why would the dungeon do this?" Alycia asked.

  "To prevent deaths," Serenia replied bluntly. "He has decided that if an adventurer cannot win a fight against two goblins, or seriously injure a troll without exhausting themselves, then they have no business in his dungeon. He is adamant that he wants to be a whetstone, not a meat grinder."

  "But is he not a meat grinder for his own monsters?" Alycia countered.

  Serenia laughed throatily. "You misunderstand. His monsters love their lives. They can cut loose and live their best lives according to their instincts. Sure, life is brutal and short for many, but the denizens of Vitalmire would have it no other way. From top to bottom, not one laments their place. The only limiting factor in the dungeon is not the will of their creator, but their own ability to reach out and cultivate strength."

  "Monster logic," Alycia sighed. "Survival of the fittest."

  "It is more than that," Serenia continued. "The dungeon has equipped its first two passives to vastly increase virility, fertility, and maturation rate. Thus, the need for better training. Matthias would rather invest resources in ensuring adventurers have a strong foundation. In that way, they add to the potency of his crucible rather than detract from it.

  "As such, he has moved the largest goblin village closer to the training center. That way, you can tell them how many beast goblins you need. Do not hesitate to use them. There are far more goblins than your recruits could ever eliminate, even if they spent all day fighting. And the goblins will relish the chance. If you want your recruits to fight a small group, that is fine. If you want a large group to face a full patrol, that is also fine."

  "So you are serious—Matthias really wants the recruits as prepared as possible?" Alycia asked.

  "It is also why he has replaced all the trees at the edge of the swamp with ironwood nodes," Serenia added. "He seems convinced that ironwood will help you in some way."

  "There are uses," Alycia admitted, without elaborating.

  "I know the goblins love to use it to fashion weapons," Serenia sighed. "Oh, and Matthias has an odd idea about how you might teach new recruits about the monsters of the dungeon."

  With that, Serenia produced three small wooden boxes.

  Alycia took one and carefully opened it, unable to suppress a chuckle. Inside were playing cards. A common vice, but these were different. The front of each card bore a stylized illustration of a dungeon monster. The back listed its offensive and defensive abilities.

  "These will help more than you know," Alycia said with a grin. "But what are these numbers?" She pointed to the circled value at the bottom-left of the artwork.

  "That is the amount of mana the creature is worth," Serenia explained.

  Alycia blinked owlishly and flipped through the deck. "Most dungeons would not openly admit that kind of information."

  Serenia chuckled. "Knowing what each monster is worth does not tell you how many there are. Besides, those decks only cover the monsters in the swamp."

  Alycia's eyes narrowed.

  "Yes," Serenia continued. "He has just finished his second floor. I am only permitted to tell you that it is a fungal forest. It was naturally occurring—he simply expanded it."

  "Even knowing the environment will soothe some ruffled feathers," Alycia admitted. "There are a few people in power upset that we were unable to fully clear the dungeon."

  Serenia shrugged. "Matthias has been made aware of vested interests. He is taking steps to ensure his safety."

  "So he is choosing a side?" Alycia asked.

  "I am not entirely sure what he has planned," Serenia said. "All I know is that he is on the verge of rising in rarity."

  Alycia's eyes went wide. "Already?"

  Serenia only grinned and snapped her fingers. She vanished in a swirl of rose petals.

  Alycia groaned. "Someone is going to have to clean all that up," she muttered, surveying the petals scattered across her office.